We will take you through DesignHammer’s recent, two part, newsletter creation process from start to finish. First, we’ll share ideas for simple, sustainable, and scalable processes for content generation. Then, we will give a brief overview of email marketing tools currently in the marketplace. Finally, we’ll discuss our experience using MailChimp. This will include some of MailChimp’s technical features, which can aid in reaching your desired audience.

1. Newsletters in an
Hour a Week
NCT4G Conference 2017
Tuesday, June 6th
Michael Nicholson
Jeanette Larsen
@DesignHammer

2. WE EMPOWER CLIENTS BY
BUILDING SMARTER WEBSITES
Since 2001 we've been helping people
overcome business obstacles through Drupal,
WordPress, and custom CMS

3. 3
Michael
Nicholson
Project Manager

4. Michael’s spirit animal
4

5. Jeanette
Larsen
Web Designer
5

6. Jeanette’s spirit animal
6

7. • Founded in 2001
• Full service website design and development agency
• 10 staff located in North Carolina
• Drupal,WordPress, and Custom Development
7
DH History

8. DH History
8

9. Struggling with regularity
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10. 10
• We did blog posts, sometimes
• Decent quality
• Variety of topics
• Inconsistent execution due to a lack of a detailed plan
• No real measurement of impact or frequency
Struggling with regularity

11. Cobbler’s children
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12. 12
Have you seen any of these suspects?
• Technology companies with old computer systems?
• Stressed out relaxation therapists?
• Car mechanics with broken down cars?
Cobbler’s children

13. Problems
13

14. 14
• Lack of inspiration
• Lack of process
• Lack of time
Problems - 3 Main issues
How to generate content reliably, in a timely manner?

15. Problem - Lack of inspiration
15
“I don’t know what
to write about.”

16. Problem - Lack of inspiration
16
• How do we get new ideas?
• What's good enough?
• What is the value of repeating content that
already exists?

17. Problem - Lack of process
17
I know I've got the
file. It's right here in
storage... somewhere.

18. Problem - Lack of process
18
"I don't know what I am
supposed to be doing or
who to ask.”

19. Problem - Lack of process
19

20. Problem - Lack of process
• Who am I supposed to talk to?
• Who are your resources for review and
style guides?
• Do you have a defined set of items for a
type of content?
• Do you have a timeline for your steps?
20

21. Problem - Lack of time
21

22. Problem - Lack of time
• Lack of organizational buy-in
• Lack of individual buy-in
• Prioritization
22

23. Problem - Lack of time
Our staff always prioritized
client work ahead of our
content creation efforts.
23

24. • Is this important?
• Does both staff and leadership think it's important?
• How do we get it done?
• Why isn't it getting done already if it’s important?
24
Problem - Lack of time

25. 25
Distribute generated content

26. Distribute generated content
• Who do we want to reach?
• How do we best reach them?
• Are their multiple user segments in that group?
• What amount of time do I have to distribute content?
• Do we want the reader to take an action?
26

27. Solutions
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28. 28

29. Solutions - Content process
Scheduled crowd-sourcing content creation:
• Structure for regular content
• Scheduled time for crowd-sourcing
• Process in place for review/support with
expected time frames
29

30. Solutions - Scheduled
crowd-sourced content
30

31. Solutions - Structure for
regular content
• Do you have style and content guidelines?
• Do you have a shared, efficient tool?
• What's a format everyone can contribute to?
• Do you have a way to keep track of your
progress?
31

32. Solutions - Scheduled time
for crowd-sourcing
• How much time a week?
• How specifically scheduled is the time? Is
this specific to a certain date or amount of
time?
• Do you schedule as a group or as
individuals?
32

33. Solutions - Process in place
for review/support
• How do people get their content reviewed
once they've completed their portion?
• How quickly should that review happen?
• Is there enough time scheduled before the
content needs to be finalized?
33

34. Solutions - Scheduled
content aggregation
34

35. • Reading
• Taking notes
• “Reader’s Corner” - weekly posting
35
Scheduled content
aggregation

36. 36
Scheduled content
aggregation - Reading

37. Subscribe to email lists that are appropriate/compelling:
• Find advocacy blogs
• Sign up for email lists
• RSS feeds
37
Reading - How are you getting
information now that is time efficient?
DesignHammer Updates List:
http://eepurl.com/cEaYHj

38. What is important about what you're reading?
• Who said it?
• Who it applies to?
• Is it time sensitive?
• What is the 3 sentence version of why this matters?
38
Scheduled content
aggregation - Taking notes

39. 39
Scheduled content aggregation
- “Reader’s Corner”

40. 40
“Reader’s Corner” Iterations -
Google doc

41. 41
“Reader’s Corner” Iterations -
Google form

42. 42
“Reader’s Corner” Iterations -
Google Sheets

43. 43
“Reader’s Corner” - Post

44. 44
Taking notes example - Google
Chrome SSL Warning

45. 45
“Reader’s Corner” - SSL example

46. Solutions - Ideas list for
more meatier posts
46

47. • Where do you track your ideas for compelling content?
• How often do you want to create ‘meatier posts’ as
part of your communication?
• How often do you review this list?
• Who has access to this list?
47
Solutions - Ideas list for
more meatier posts

48. 48
Solutions - Owner of
content generation

49. • Will there be one or multiple owners?
• Who makes final decisions?
• Should this responsibility rotate over time and
at what frequency?
• What is their responsibility?
49
Owner of content
generation

50. What does follow up look like in your organization?
• Staff meetings
• Individual assignments
• Project management
50
Owner of content
generation - follow up
• Google calendar
• List of topics that
people select

51. • What is the accountability of the owner?
• When assignments are made, how are
individuals held accountable?
51
Owner of content
generation - accountability

52. 52
Owner of content generation
- NOT a full time job

53. • How much time a week is reasonable for that person?
• How much support do they need?
• Can that support be distributed to spread out the burden?
53
Owner of content generation
- NOT a full time job

54. Solutions - What else can
you do with your content?
• Educate
• Event registration
• Donations
• Advocacy
54

55. Solution - Tools
55

56. Tools
• Google office
• Social media - tools
• SMS services
• Surveys
56

57. Tools - Google office
57

58. Tools - Social media
58

59. Tools - SMS
59

60. Tools - Surveys
60

61. • Please share your level of interest in the
following categories
• How often would you prefer to hear from DH
• Other suggestions
61
Surveys - Ask your readers
questions you want answers to

62. Surveys - Ask your readers
questions you want answers to
62

63. Surveys - Benefits readers
• Relevant information
• Schedule they like
• Methodology of how the like to be reached
63

64. • Expands your reach
• Increases brand or company awareness
• Identifies you as thought leaders
64
Surveys - Benefits organization

65. MailChimp
65

66. MailChimp - Lists and segments
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67. MailChimp - List signup forms
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68. MailChimp - Templates
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69. Conclusion
69

70. Conclusion - Problems
• How do we create content? - Lack of
inspiration, process, and time
• How do we distribute our generated
content?
70

71. Conclusion - Content problem
• Scheduled crowd sourced content creation
• Scheduled content aggregation
• Idea list
• Owner of content generation
71

72. • Update list in MailChimp
• Posts on our website
• Promote through social media
• Use Hootsuite to manage social media
72
Conclusion - Distribution
problem

73. Questions?
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74. 74
Follow us!
@DesignHammer
facebook.com/DesignHammer
www.designhammer.com/blog/
Newsletter sign-up: http://eepurl.com/cEaYHj
Feedback:
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/dh-nctech4good